


Paresthesia and Proprioception

by tropicalgothic



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, It's not specifically bloody but it still is, ish ish body horror?, it's a fucked up fam huhu, thathalloweencat, tw torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:35:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tropicalgothic/pseuds/tropicalgothic
Summary: Minus the odd man dangling from the ceiling, Reizei’s office was not the usual torture chamber. But it has nursed the more nightmares than any other room in Sunagakure.
Kudos: 8





	Paresthesia and Proprioception

Once more.

The shinobi looked up, and met the kind eyes and the patient smile of the Sandaime Hokage. His Hokage expected something of him— he could tell. But what it was escaped him entirely. He couldn’t even recall why—

“Kimura, Hideki?”

“Yes, Sir,” that was his name. “I— I’m sorry, I— I spaced out for a moment.” Hideki took a low bow and— _the nausea_ hit him. Like he was much higher than he was. It’s as if he left his bones behind when he took the bow and— “I think I need a refresher on—“

“Your report,” Hiruzen reminded him, shuffling through his set of papers. The Hokage felt further away than he did a few seconds ago. “On the undercover mission in Kaze no Kuni.”

He blinked. In front of him were three bodies— he knew them. Taro. Mitsuo. Hikaru. But he could not draw their faces, or tell you who was who.

Hideki blinked again and he was back in the office. Hiruzen standing in front of him.

“You left Konoha with a team of three.” Hiruzen stepped to the side with a slow and uneven cadence. He continued with a voice that wasn’t his. “And you returned alone. Why is this?”

 _It’s all in the report._ Hideki wanted to point out. They were never called to report a mission like this— it was always written down. Documented the way Konoha wanted it to.

The ground felt uneven beneath him.

“Why. Is. This.” The voice repeated. Hideki could no longer see his Hokage— even as the figure in white and red robes continued to walk around room.

Hideki swallowed. “They were captured.”

“By whom?”

“Suna. Suna troops.” He could remember the flicker of the lights above them— the way they dimmed. The prickle of something snaking up his leg. The bite of cold and grainy steel——

“You misremember,” the Hokage said. A Hokage— with a face he could not recognize. “You never encountered the Sandaime Kazekage. You got those wounds on your way back— after you left your friends.”

His stomach sank. Yes, yes, he left— he ran. He was afraid. He was afraid of——

“By whom?”

The scent of coffee wafted into the air.

“A scorch release user.” His head hurt, and he could feel his gut churn. Hideki could not remember—

“A man or a woman?”

“A man.” He imagined one. “Not too tall— barely taller than Mitsuo.”

“Very good. And why did they catch your friends.”

“We were—“ His head spun. He was floating. He was being strangled. Pushed in from all sides. “We were over hearing plans.”

“What plans?”

“Suna— tactical—“ He could hear Taro screaming in the distance. “The northern fort— we were— This is—“

_This is not real._

Hideki shut his eyes, and concentrated on his head. On the scent of coffee wafting in the air— _The trigger! He was sure of it— that was the trigger._ And the—

Release

He opened his eyes. He was naked and bound to an oak chair. He made this oak chair. Just like he made the table in front of him. He could hear little Saki, asking if she could help her mother with the katsu.

And there was a man in front of him. His formal robes traded for a more extravagant black and gold. Long black hair tied neatly into a bun. Black sand slithered through the dishes, making its way towards him. And sharp gold eyes that looked at him with—

“You disappoint me, Hideki,” the man leaned back. “I thought we could all go home within the hour.”

“Leave them alone,” Hideki pleaded. “They’ve done nothing wrong. My wife— my wife she’s not even—— she hasn’t been on a mission since—“

The nausea hit once more. He could feel the acid at the back of his throat.

“We’re not—” Hideki realized, his lips trembling. “I didn’t break the genjutsu…”

The blinked. The Sandaime Kazekage stood tall beside him. “Oh you did,” he reassured him, standing too tall beside him. This figure lengthening. “You broke through one. You have a couple more to get through if you want to get out of here and into the real.”

The Kazekage— the creature now, long limbed and hunched over, crept around him. “But you should remember your lines, Hideki.” And then disappeared into the shadows.

That’s when he felt the prickle of a pressed nerve on his right arm— pins and needles shooting from his ring finger up his elbow.

Hideki knew it was a trigger.

But. “Now.” He was floating. And the voice that was neither the Hokage’s nor the Kazekage’s blew the thought away. This voice was much calmer. “Listen to me.”

Quieter. “Your friends were captured because you were spying on the Kazekage’s meeting.”

Quiet. Hideki repeated the phrase, but could not hear himself speak. Only the voice.

“He was snacking on fruits— figs, pomegranates. A lavish spread. You remember it was when he reached for the blood orange that he mentioned—“

Familiar. This is a good voice, he told himself. This voice made him feel like he was floating— if he repeated the words exactly as he was told.

“That they are pulling troops from he Northern fort. It is undefended. You thought it was enough information— Taro wanted to hear more. He paid the price. And you are bringing this information back to Hiruzen. Remember it this time.”

Like Hideki could close his eyes, and the promise of a better dream would drift closer.

“Once more.”

\---

Kimura, Hideki. 23 year old male. Konoha Jounin.

Currently, blindfolded and suspended on a series of ropes that could be maneuvered any way Reizei wanted. Reizei has never encountered a shinobi who has figured out that particular trigger.

His was the chamber at the end of the hall. It could have been any other odd room— an old metronome by the table; a series of needles, newly sterilized; a cup of coffee, covered; an inversion table at the very corner; a cotton ball. Sound proofed so that he couldn’t be distracted by the sounds from the other rooms. A mop at the side of the door, in case any other shinobi from the Intelligence Division walked in without washing the blood off their hands first.

Minus the odd man dangling from the ceiling, Reizei’s office was not the usual torture chamber. But it has nursed the more nightmares than any other room in Sunagakure.

“You shouldn’t have come in the middle of a session, brother,” he pointed out, taking a sip of coffee. Luke warm coffee. Reizei wrinkled his nose and set it back down. “He heard something from outside.”

“Apologies,” the Sandaime Kazekage stood up from his seat in the corner. Reizei did not understand why he came to observe. He would see anything that Hideki was seeing— only an old and worn out shinobi groan as Reizei crafted a shifting landscape before him. But he sat there, in the corner, with a smile, “I just wanted to know how you were doing.” And the smile faded. “Is it difficult?”

Reizei turned around. “It’s always more difficult to plant a memory, than it is to just scramble their brains,” he said, and took a sip of that luke warm coffee once more.

“So,” Reizei could hear the inflection in his brother’s voice. The raised eyebrow. The doubt.

The Kazekage stood up from his chair, and walked towards him with slow and uneven cadence. Reizei could see his shadow lengthening on the floor. He could feel the pin pricks in his spine. The hairs that stood up on goose kin.

“So, it is difficult for you.”

Reizei took another sip of the coffee. “I can do it.” He put his hand on the metronome, and set the pendulum in motion. “Once more.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is for thatshipcat's Halloween Event. Prompt: Pins & Needles. These are all largely based on my personal headcanons, along with the fact that genjutsu users need more love and I've never actually written my OC Reizei before.


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